Childhood absence epilepsy (CAE) is a common pediatric epilepsy syndrome that affects 10 to 15 percent of all children with epilepsy. Individuals with CAE have brief staring spell seizures that occur suddenly, unpredictably, and frequently throughout the day. These seizures impair the children's ability to learn and play, and lead to higher injury rates.

There are many medications used to treat seizures, but only 3 generally are used as the first treatment for children with CAE: ethosuximide, lamotrigine, and valproic acid. The goal of this study is to determine which of these 3 medicines is the best first choice as treatment for children with CAE.

Approximately 439 children, recruited over a 3-year period at 32 medical centers in the US, will take part in this 5-year study. Participants will be randomly given one of the 3 common CAE treatments—ethosuximide, lamotrigine, or valproic acid—and will make regular visits to a clinic every 1 to 3 months for approximately 2 years. During the visits, participants will undergo regular testing to determine if the medicine is working, to watch for side effects, and to help researchers learn more about the responses to these medicines. In addition, researchers hope to develop methods that may be used in the future to help choose the best medicine for each individual diagnosed with CAE.

Also included in the study will be pharmacokinetics and pharmacogenetics research. Pharmacokinetics is the study of how the body absorbs, distributes, metabolizes, and excretes drugs. Pharmacogenetics is the study of genetic determinants of the response to drugs. Knowledge gained from this study may lead to individualized treatment for children with CAE, and may also be beneficial for other pediatric and adult seizure disorders.

Eligibility

Ages Eligible for Study:

30 Months to 13 Years

Genders Eligible for Study:

Both

Accepts Healthy Volunteers:

Yes

Criteria

Inclusion Criteria:

Diagnosis: Clinical diagnosis of Childhood Absence Epilepsy consistent with the International League against Epilepsy Proposal for Revised Classification of Epilepsies and Epileptic Syndromes (3).

Treatment for CAE with anti-seizure medications (AED) for a period of greater than 7 days prior to randomization.

History of a major psychiatric disease (e.g., psychosis, major depression).

History of autism or pervasive development disorder.

History of non-febrile seizures other than typical absence seizures. This includes a history of an afebrile generalized tonic clonic seizure.

Clinical signs and symptoms consistent with a diagnosis of juvenile absence epilepsy or juvenile myoclonic epilepsy as delineated by the International League against Epilepsy Proposal for Revised Classification of Epilepsies and Epileptic Syndromes (3).

Subject or parent/legal guardian might not be reasonably expected to be compliant with or to complete the study.

Participation in a trial of an investigational drug or device within 30 days prior to screening.

Use of systemic contraceptive for any indication, including acne.

Contacts and Locations

Choosing to participate in a study is an important personal decision. Talk with your doctor and family members or friends about deciding to join a study.
To learn more about this study, you or your doctor may contact the study research staff using the Contacts provided below.
For general information, see Learn About Clinical Studies.

Please refer to this study by its ClinicalTrials.gov identifier: NCT00088452